Middlesex 1

"My birth certificate lists my name as Calliope Helen Stephanides. My most recent drivers license (from the Federal Republic of Germany) records my first name simply as Cal. I'm a former field hocky goalie, long-standing member of the Save-the-Manatee Foundation, rare attendant at the Greek Orthodox Liturgy, and, for most of my adult life, an employee of the U.S. State Department. Like Tiresias, I was first one thing and then another... A red-headed girl from Grosse Pointe fell in love with me, not knowing who I was. (Her brother liked me, too.) An army tank led me into urban battle once; a swimming pool turned me into myth; I've left my body in order to occupy others--and all this happened before I turned sixteen."
Book 1, Chapter 1, Page 3

In this, one of the first paragraphs of the book, we learn a great deal about the protagonist. In the first place, we learn that, while she was originally named femininely, later in life her name was shortened to the masculine "Cal". This implies that which the title, "Middlesex", has also implied, that the novel will deal with the subject of gender. Her surname, Stephanides, and her mention of the Greek Orthodox Church lead one to believe that she is of Hellenistic origin, further enhanced by her use of Tiresias, a figure in The Odyssey as well as Greek Mythology. Tiresias was transformed into a woman for seven years, according to the myth, and the narrators comparison of herself/himself to him also further implies that the narrator's gender might be called into question. The narrator lists things that have occorred in her life, but not their context, nor how they affected her, which adds a mood of suspense and anticipation to the opening pages of this book.